Born in and now returned to Yorkshire from Scotland, spending summers in Italy. I knit socks but prefer to wear flip flops
Thursday 26 January 2023
New year knits
Sunday 22 January 2023
Beam me up
January the longest most pointless month continues to drag. Life has been quiet and maybe not so cosy as we try to reduce our fuel demands, we are warm enough we have enough, no complaints.
So I thought I’d brighten the day by telling you about MrFF’s experience yesterday. Not the part where he left home before 7 to meet up with his walking group, walked down to the station, got onboard and bought his ticket online to discover the train wasn’t leaving the station as there were problems on the tracks. He walked back home to collect the car and got there in time but his eco efforts and plans for a relaxing journey were thwarted.
Anyway the group were walking through the pretty suburbs of Leeds when this passed them
What fun, a great saving for the environment and a solution for those not so mobile who might suddenly be out of milk. It opens up new possibilities although we are not sure if the little starship could climb the steep hill up to our building, fortunately for now at least we can.
Tuesday 10 January 2023
Born to be wild
The marmalade is made for another year, 10 jars so I can gift some.
It must be first thing I’ve achieved in 2023 apart from eating all the remaining festive food. Although I did buy myself this leather jacket today in the Jigsaw sale, wearing this at 74 seems like an achievement tooFriday 6 January 2023
A Moveable Feast
A week into the new year and Easter eggs are already in the shops, give me strength surely no one wants to buy these over priced over packaged items yet (or ever). Easter is in 3 months time on 09 April.
My morning was spent taking down the Christmas decorations and sorting information for my tax return so I was feeling cross and thought a walk to the library to collect a couple of reserved books would do me good. My own fault I should never have popped into Marks and Spencer on the off chance they had anything I needed. I now feel crosser than ever and we agreed this year would be calm.
Monday 2 January 2023
New Year
I am glad that 2022 is over and we start a new and hopefully improved year. We stayed up to watch the midnight fireworks standing in the rain on our balcony. They were spectacular, all private displays to equal anything we see in Italy, it felt joyful to see them and quite exciting as some exploded immediately above us.
Of course the aftermath of last year continues, it’s almost 6 weeks since we forked out the money for a new water supply in Italy. Nothing has happened, at the 4th time of asking we still don’t have the documents to connect to the planned new meters though neighbours have. Some things do not change.
The soul destroying despair at the Italian bureaucracy and life in general have been wearing, I have felt more than usual the passing of years. Physically I feel I suddenly look old and somehow smaller, diminished by the stress. I shall be 75 in November, I’m determined not to be defeated by the setbacks and currently I am sleeping really well though maybe 10 hours is rather excessive.
Last year we lost several friends, additionally a dear friend has gone into a care home and another is battling cancer, as he said learning live with it rather than die with it. On a brighter note we heard from a friend we haven’t seen for 19 years. He was diagnosed with cancer and given 2 years to live 10 years ago, he is reasonably healthy, surviving.
So I won’t complain as the lines on my face etch deeper and I won’t worry too much about the few pounds I’ve added over the festive period, my clothes still fit though I might have been a bit hasty donating some of the larger ones to charity. I’ll take what this year brings, no doubt there will be much ranting and a lot of frustration but I’ll keep on keeping on, there is no alternative.
I wish you and yours all good things for 2023, that the world can become a better place and that we remember to be kind.